Leveling instrument.



E. C. BACHFIELD. LEVELING INSTRUMENT. A'PPLICATI'ON' FILED APR. 16, 1911.

Patented Feb. 12, 1918.

W M w m m E .iomm r EDVTARD o. :eaorrrrnnn, or INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

Ln vnnrne INSTRUMENT.

Specification 01 Letters Patent. Patefltedfeb. 12, 191$.

Application filed April 16, 1917. Serial No. 162,24Q.

, Instruments, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying (l1't1\\'11ig. y

This inventionrelatcs to improvements in leveling instruments designed particularly for use in estal'ilishing the altitude of one line of rails of a railway track with respect to-the other lineot rails and for determining the grade or inclination of the rails. The instrument is used for these purposes.

preferably by being mounted on. the cross ties upon which the rails willlater be laid.

My leveling instrument comprises standards or legs adapted to rest upon the ties and combine with aduated arc and pendulum operating in conjunction with such are after themanner oi a vernier in a sur-.

veyors transit. The instrument also oomprises cross-hairs carried onastem mounted on the standards, the cross-hairs to. form the object to be observed through the telescope of a surveyoi"s transit when this leveling instrument is used in conjunction with such transit, as hereinafter pointed out. a y I The instrument further comprises a spirit leveland its graduated-arcto determine the grade or inclination oi" the ties, as also hereinafter pointed out. i

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of my improved leveling instrument shown mounted on a railway tie; and Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the instrument. l

The frame comprises a pair of standards designated 1, secured together at their apex,

as by a bolt 2 and a knurled nut 8. They spread apart at their lower ends and are fashioned to rest upon a cross tie of arailway; or, as shown, are constructed with a shoe 4 to fit in the rail seat of a tie block 5 constructed in accordance with the tie, or

tie block set forth in my application filed April 16th, 1917, Ser. No. 162,243. But the instrumentjmay be used with any kind of a cross tie or may be placed upon the rails after they are laid on the ties.

Secured to the standards at a convenient place is a graduated plate 6 having graduations representing degrees and minutes as 10 and 20. A pendulum 7 is pivoted to the standards by fitting over a reduced portion 8 of the bolt 2 where it is held by a nut 9. The lower end of the pendulum is in the form of a pointer 10 which in a Sense performs somewhat the office ofa vernier ina surveyors transit, except that the pointer is not graduatedyyet itworks in conjunction with the scale on the plate 6 for show ing whether the instrument is standing horizontal with both feet at the same altitude or tipped to one side with one foot higher than the other. Thus, if the instrument is stood upon a railway tie or rails and both ends of the tie are to be level or of the same altitude, the pointer will stand at zero on the graduated plate, while if one end of the tie is to be elevated, as on the curves of rail,- way beds, the degree of elevation of the one end of the tie compared with the other would be shown by the position. of the pointer on thegraduated plate, as by pointing at, say 5 or 10 or to some fraction of a degree indicated by a minute line, as 5 30.

By this simple instrument the constructor can determine the end to end inclination of each tie or the altitude of one end compared to the other, and he :an do so with perfect accuracy. and quickness. And the instrument can be used either in the process 0'! laying the ties before the rails are applied. as preferably in. the case of the use of the improved road-bed and ties set forth in my applications filed April 16th, 1917, and bean ing the respective Serial, Number 169,942 and 162,243, or: may be used after the rails are laid upon the ties and the latter are being set in position and the material tamped under them.

Then with respect to determining the grade of the road, that is, of setting the upper surface of the ties, and consequently,

the rails, at the grade or inclinatioudesired I use the spirit level 11 with its pointer 12 the gradeis upward or downward at the plate 13, say 5 or 5 30.

' graduated plate 13.

given point. Assume that the grade is upwill merely show when the standards are vertlcal or. inclined in addition to what would be shown by the pendulum 12 and For this reason the spirit level may be omitted. 7

Referring now to the cross-hairs they are indicated at 15, being in the nature of fine wires secured to-a ring 16 mounted on a rod 17 suitably secured ,tothe upper end of the standards. This cross wire device is in the nature of an attachmentv which.

may or may not be used or included in the restof the instrument. WVhen present and used its use will be in conjunction with a surveyors transit. The cross wires 15 will represent the object on which the line of sight through the telescope will be brought. In this case this leveling .instru me'nt Wlll be shifted from side to side untll the intersection of these cross wires coincides with the vertical cross-hair of the telescope. In this way this object would be seton a line prolonged from the transit through the point at which the telescope has been sighted. In this way this instrument can be used in connection with a transit in prolonging stralght lines 1n the usual way practised by surveyers, when they set the Copies of this patent may'be obtained for "adepending pointer connected with the transit at one point, sight to'a'poi'nt ahead and thence project the line straight ahead onward and'set the object so that it will be intersected by this prolonged line.

Ihav e referred above to my application filed April 16th, 1917, Ser. No.;162,242, re-

lating to an improved, road-bed. Forthe p purpose of showing one manner of; use of the present invention I have illustrated the character of base, sub-base and vcross'tie: embodied in said application. But, of course, it will be understood that the present-in vention may be'used in settingorlaying any character of cross tie and railway rail.

Having thus fully described myinventiornr' what I claim as new and. desire to secure by Letters Patent, is L 1. In a leveling instrument, a frame com-' a graduated plate secured to said standards, a pendulum 'swung fromthe frame' and co operatingwith said plate-[to determine-the altitude of one footof the standards. with respect to the other, a pointer pivoted on the frame and a graduatedplate connected to the latter tocooperate with vthe pointer,

the pendulum adapted to swing in a, lateral v plane and the pointer to swinginfa fore and aft plane. f i

2. Ina leveling instrument, posed of'standards having feet atone end and brought to an apex at theother, a

pendulum swung from said apex, and across wire device mounted above said apex, a graduated plate to cooperate with the pendu lum, a spirit level pivoted to one standard;

spirit level, and a graduated plate for'said pointer. Y v V .a

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature;

EDWARD o. BAoHFIE -n.

a frame comfivecents each. by addressing the f Commissioner ofjatents,

Washington, D. C.

7 prising standards spread apart at their-feet, 

